The “30 Rock” actor grabbed and shoved veteran photographer Paul Adao along a Greenwich Village street in front of several witnesses Tuesday.

In one snap of the scuffle, Baldwin, 55, appeared to pin the 60-year-old freelance lensman against the hood of a parked car. A witness said Baldwin went berserk when he saw at least two photographers on his tail as he strolled with his wife, Hilaria, 29, in one of her first public outings since giving birth to their daughter, Carmen Gabriela. The baby was not spotted at the scene of the fracas.

The incident apparently took place shortly after the photo at the top of the post was taken.

In photos taken by another pap — which can be seen in the video below — Baldwin is clearly rough-housing the guy. Some people sadly never learn.

I don’t know…60+ years old or not, paparazzi are the mosquitoes of humankind. They seemingly serve no discernible purpose other than to annoy. It’s hard for me to not feel like Mr. Baldwin wasn’t doing what anyone else would do if they constantly had their privacy invaded, or – barring that (because, lets face it- he is a celebrity and they categorically seem to give up privacy), at least having some space.

His wife had just given birth, so his protective instincts were in hyperdrive. Add “Baldwin was raised a Roman Catholic, and has English, Irish, Scottish, French, and German ancestry.” and yeah, I can see him being combative.

Alec Baldwin now needs to be treated the same way a wild animal is treated? He’s 55, I would hope he’d have more self control then a wild fucking bear. What happens when this dickhead mistakenly attacks some poor schmuck taking a photo on the street?

Alec Baldwin is no more a wild animal than a papparazo is equivalent to a poor schmuck on the street. But if a poor schmuck on the street got within a few feet of Alec Baldwin and started barraging him with questions while snapping hundreds of photos, while he was simply trying to walk down to his car or down the street, I’d hope he’d gift said “poor schmuck” with a shiner.

Clearly this is intractable, because there is no degree in your mind to which those “behaviors” cross any sort of threshold into harassment. I have no interest in trying to convince you otherwise. Congratulations, you’re totally right. Under no circumstance is it permissible for a person to lose their temper when someone else acts like an asshole.

Yell at them, turn your back on them, walk away, ignore them–all fine. Touch somebody who is annoying but not threatening, not impeding your path? Lack of self control.
Of course, I can’t say I would be any better at keeping my temper than Baldwin is, because I don’t have this problem. When I’m walking down the street, photographers ask me “please sir, can you move? You’re ruining my picture.”

Mistakenly attacks some poor schmuck taking a photo on the street? Talk about faulty reasoning – I believe that’s called a slippery slope fallacy. The ‘poor schmuck’ on the street wouldn’t be all up in his face asking him questions.

The “questions” the paparazzi, (paparazzo?) was asking were probably along the lines of “when is your wife going to lose the baby-fat?”, the kind of questions asked to provoke a reaction and either make the photographer famous and or get involved in a quickie lawsuit settlement. What I’m saying is that papparazzi should be hunted for sport.